Consider it a Favor
by Knight-Dawn
Summary: "Do you want to go back?" It was a simple question, but it didn't have a simple answer. When Xion finally makes up her mind and asks Riku to buy her a bit more time, he accepts the request on the condition that Xion considers it a favor. He has no use for a debt from her that can never be paid back. Two-shot. Riku/Xion pairing.
1. Xion

"_Do you want to go back?"_

* * *

It had been a simple enough question, but Xion wasn't sure. Yes, she wanted to go back... but she wanted to stay, too. She was scared of what was happening, scared because she knew she was running out of time.

She didn't answer Riku at first. No, she waited until long after sundown, when he'd already curled up in bed and was fast asleep. She couldn't find rest herself – her fragile little heart was beating far too quickly. As though it knew she was already running on borrowed time, and even that was running short.

She paced outside on the balcony, staring up at the moon every now and then. Every moment she changed her mind, wanted something else she couldn't have. To go back to Roxas and Axel and eat ice cream with them every evening, forever. To stay with Riku, even if they always had to keep running from the Organization and from DiZ. To just run from everyone and escape her fate if she could.

But her fate was inevitable and, deep down, she knew it.

Finally, it was too much for her. She missed her friends – she had to see them again, had to eat ice-cream and act stupid with them at least one more time.

She ran into the room where Riku was sleeping soundly and jumped up on his bed, clutching the covers in her hands so tightly that her knuckles went white. "Riku? Riku, please. Wake up. I need to ask you something."

He shifted and rolled over, an arm covering his face. "Ngh. What is it, Xion?"

She stared down at her hands. "You asked me if I wanted to go back. And... I do."

Riku was quiet for a long moment before he peeked at her from under his arm. She only saw his eyes for a moment – a flash of bright aquamarine amid the shadows – before he'd sat up in bed and closed his eyes tightly, warding away the darkness.

"...That isn't a question."

"It's a request," Xion said, softly. "...I'm asking you to let me go back."

Riku didn't say anything for a while again, and when he did speak his voice was quiet, too. "How much time do you need?"

"As much as you can buy me."

"...A month," he told her. "I can't promise you more than that, but I can try."

"DiZ is gonna hate you."

"I don't care how DiZ feels about this," Riku muttered, reaching out blindly and covering one of her small hands with his own. "I care about giving you the time you need to make your choice. So I'll buy you as much time as I can."

"...Riku, you don't have to do this. You know that, right?"

"It's the least I can do for you, Xion, all things considered."

She sighed and bowed her head. "...I promise I'll pay you back for this. Somehow."

"No," Riku said, stubbornly, reaching out with his other hand and brushing her hair back from her eyes. "Consider it a favor, Xion. I've got no use for a debt that'll never be paid back."

The air went deathly silent between them after that comment, and Xion withdrew her hand from his.

"...Still," she mumbled. "I'll find a way."

* * *

"_I promise, Riku._"

**Author:** What is it with me this week and angsty drabbles? Eh. Here's a RikuXi one cause it's been a while and, despite my wrestling with the current prompt for my drabble series this wanted to come out instead.

There might be a part 2 to this, actually, so I'm not marking it as 'complete' yet. I still want to do a chapter from Riku's PoV as Axel comes to take Xion back and he lets it happen. :) And yes, this whole story was inspired by watching the HD Days cutscenes on Youtube. Ah, lovely added dialogue scenes. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am about the way Riku said Xion's name in his fight against Roxas - because it most definitely sounded liked I hoped it would. He wasn't taunting Roxas at all... he was saying her name for the sake of saying it. Makes me so happy and so freaking sad at the same time.

Anyway, enjoy and look forward to the second part! ^-^


	2. Riku

_"Thank you, Riku."_

* * *

Riku was standing at the window, in Namine's room, when Xion left. He knew she was leaving – the conversation from the night before repeated over and over in his head. In fact, he'd have to be stupid not to know – Axel's scent had appeared on the grounds, and it wasn't hard to guess what the other Nobody was doing there.

"...So. You're just... letting her go?"

Riku had almost expected DiZ to be there, and his heart was already beating frantically by the time the voice registered as Namine's.

Riku turned slightly, facing her over his shoulder, but said nothing.

He'd promised to turn a blind eye to this, after all. Keep DiZ in the dark for as long as possible. Luckily DiZ wasn't fond of staying in the same area as Namine and trusted Riku to keep an eye on both her and Xion. Probably wouldn't trust him after this, but... It was the present that mattered.

He heard the telltale sounds of a fight breaking loose, and almost winced – did wince when he felt a slender hand curl around his forearm.

"Namine—"

"I think it's noble of you," She said. "Letting her make this choice for herself – you're not like DiZ. You see her as her own person, don't you?"

More silence.

"I'm sorry," Namine sighed, pulling her hand away. "I know it isn't easy... for any of them. I can see how much pain you're in right now, Riku. Don't tell me you..."

"It's not like it matters," Riku breathed, cutting in before Namine said the words he was trying so hard not to think about himself. If he denied the feelings, maybe they would go away. "It's not like she _really_ has a choice. If she doesn't choose to go back to Sora, the Organization will end her anyway. There's... no victory for her."

Axel won the fight, no matter how hard she struggled, and a moment later, both scents vanished.

Riku hadn't felt this... empty... in a while.

"I'm sorry," Namine repeated, and then she left him alone with his thoughts.

He was still standing by the window when DiZ returned, and Riku was surprised his nose didn't burn from all the anger the older man was giving off. "Where's the puppet?"  
"...Shegot away." He gave a small shrug.

"It was supposed to be under your watch, Riku."

"_She _slipped out when I wasn't looking." The emphasis on the pronoun was slight, but there. And he wasn't lying, not _really_, because with the blindfold on he technically couldn't _look_...

"I'm disappointed in you, Riku. You managed to keep her for the past month—" Fourty-three days, to be exact, but who was counting? "And now you tell me she slipped away while you weren't looking?"

Riku didn't answer. Finally, DiZ gave a heavy sigh and left him alone again.

Riku didn't know what was wrong with him. Why it bothered him so much to hear DiZ call Xion 'it' instead of 'her,' or why he'd really agreed to let her go. Why it hurt to think that, in the end, her choice wouldn't really matter – because no matter what, she couldn't exist.

Consider it a favor, he'd said.

A favor for the girl who'd never have a chance to live her own life – who'd be entirely forgotten if DiZ had his way. Even Riku wouldn't remember the way her eyes lit up when she saw something beautiful, or the way her laugh sounded as she splashed in puddles made by the rain. How she'd made the darkest days a little brighter, somehow. And how she'd always tried to keep a smile on her face to hide her pain. Because she _felt_ it – he'd have to be truly blind not to see that.

But even when he forgot everything else, he'd sometimes remember the favor itself – and remember hearing someone promise to pay him back. And it nagged at him, it really did, because he couldn't remember who _she _was...

* * *

"_Somehow. I promise."_

**Author: **Tada! Finally typed up the second (and final) part of this two-shot. I somehow like the idea of Riku being really sassy with DiZ at times and lying by omission - kinda like he does in KHII when asked what his name is and he answers "Ansem."


End file.
